Bastille, in the interrogation room on the third floor.
Viscount Carolina was satisfyingly arranging Necker’s confession, glancing at him with the corner of his eye, “Mr. Necker, thank you for cooperating with my work. Now, my task is finished. What remains is between you and the representatives of the Royal Family.”
As he was speaking, the door opened, and several Secret Police officers escorted in a nobleman wearing silver-rimmed glasses and a resplendent blue long coat.
“Look, Count Herman is here.”
Viscount Carolina rose and exchanged pleasantries with Count Herman, yielding the seat of the Chief Examiner. However, the latter did not sit down but instead took a document from his assistant and placed it in front of Necker.
“Mr. Necker, according to the interrogation commission’s report, the total amount of your embezzlement is 8,927,000 livres.”
He looked toward Viscount Carolina, who immediately nodded to confirm the accuracy of the amount.
Count Herman continued, “Her Majesty the Queen, in accordance with her previous promise, has decided to punish you leniently, so the penalty is only 2 million livres. The total is…”
“11,927,000 livres.” Viscount Carolina answered smilingly.
“Oh, yes. Thank you, Viscount Carolina.”
Count Herman then turned to Necker: “So, all you need to do is return the ill-gotten money and pay the fine, and you can leave here.”
“The Queen has also graciously permitted you to choose whether to go to Lorraine or Foix.”
He patted the document on the table: “Look, this is the pardon issued by Her Majesty.”
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For Necker’s case, being exiled to mainland France was definitely a special pardon.
Necker had long since lost any thought of resistance, took the pen and paper, and wrote down an address and a series of numbers.
He handed the paper to Count Herman, resigning to his fate, “Go here, there’s a safe, inside which are bank drafts and the method of withdrawal. This is the code.”
“I’m not sure if it’s enough for 12 million livres, but it should be over 10 million… That’s really all there is.”
The representative of the Royal Family took the paper and nodded, “Thank you for your cooperation. So, you’ll have to stay here for a while, until these funds are fully transferred. Additionally, I must inform you, the shortfall will have to be covered by your houses and estates.”
“Do whatever you want…”
Count Herman left, and Viscount Carolina, somewhat dissatisfied, curled his lip; he hadn’t expected Necker to end up only in exile – he’d thought the man would have to stay in jail for years.
But what he didn’t know was that Joseph had no intention of simply letting Necker off the hook.
Necker’s predecessor as Finance Minister was Jacques Duergo, a highly capable economist. During his tenure, he laid the foundations for France’s capitalist economy with a series of financial reforms, heralding the “golden age” of the 18th century for France.
Once Necker succeeded him, he quickly halted Duergo’s reform policies and instead maintained the finances through heavy borrowing, eventually leading France into a debt abyss.
For such a “termite” like Necker, how could Joseph let him get away with a simple exile? The French tradition of leniency towards the upper class would not stand with him!
Of course, everything had to wait until Necker had coughed up all the money, and it was essential not to tarnish the Royal Family with the stain of going back on their word.
…
Royal Palace.
Duke of Orleans looked at the newspaper in his hands with an ashen face—today, nearly all of Paris’s newspapers published the French Industrial Development Fund’s notice of disclosure.
Apart from some basic information about the fund, the disclosure mainly announced the composition of the sole management body—the Management Committee of the fund.
The committee had ten seats, six of which were elected by the clients with the highest investment amounts, one seat held or appointed by the Finance Minister, one appointed by the Bank of France Reserve, and the last two were appointed by the Royal Family.
All matters related to the fund were decided by the committee, and neither the Royal Family nor the government had the right to intervene. Of course, what he didn’t know was that Joseph had left a “backdoor” open— the French Government was the client with the highest investment amount, followed by him, the Crown Prince, and then the Royal Family.
Hence, out of those six seats, at least four could be secured. Adding the two seats inherent to the Royal Family and one from the Bank of France Reserve, he could ensure absolute control over the fund.
Duke of Orleans irritably tossed the newspaper aside.
He had anticipated that the malicious bankruptcy of the banks would cause panic among the nobility, and also predicted that the French Government would be unable to pay back the nobles’ investments. He just had to wait for the nobles to unite and pressure the palace, forcing the Royal Family to capitulate, thus interrupting the Necker case.
But what he could never have expected was that the government would come up with an “Industrial Development Fund”! Merely with a concept, they had “sucked” in all the money the nobles had invested in the banking sector, thus quickly calming the nobles’ panic.
When he first heard about the fund, he was ready to use the history of the “Mississippi Company” to lead the nobles to think of it as a “scam.”
However, as soon as he saw this “fund disclosure” information, he immediately knew this approach would not work.
The management and operation of the “Industrial Development Fund” were too transparent, managed by a committee model, where investors could check accounts at any time, investors could form an independent audit committee, and any losses were immediately reimbursed…
There was no room left for any “darkness” to seep through. Inevitably, since funds had developed over many years in later times, the obvious loopholes had been closed, and Joseph only needed to copy them.
Duke of Orleans was well aware that if he could not leverage the power of the nobility, banks involved in the Necker case would be burst one by one. And if he couldn’t preserve these large banks, his influence in the Banking Guild would plummet greatly.